@ Fireblah:Sweet . Don't forget the nite video

@ Fireblah,
Psyco28 and me went for a ride today to celebrate end of my written exams. (Damn!!! Still practicals, viva and seminar lecture to go)
The ride was close to 200km. Mainly through rural bengal.
You have never seen rural bengal. So, just wanted to share few pics.

@jonak: now where did you went?

^^^ The place is called Sadarghat. Near Burdwan town. On the bank of river Damoder.

I heard 3 official Busa's and 2 offcial R1's were picked up in Bombay. Apparently, Yamaha and Suzuki had evaded some duties. Lets hope Honda hasn't done something like that. I'm going to speak to Mr. Bhatia.

Wat..? How can a official bikes be confiscated..? And how can a company evade Custom Duties..?
Does that mean all the official Yamaha and Suzuki CBU bikes will be confiscated..?

man oh man....this is crazy...the heartaches a sbk owner has to go through thanks to the stupid regulations in this country and what ppl and companies do to bypass them. shocking!

Where/who did you hear this from? Seems highly unlikely and more like rumour spread by unscrupulous elements of the trade (you know who I mean).

I can understand bikes being picked for verification if you don't have papers on person (this is unlikely too) but the companies evading duties and taxes is probably a big fat lie.

the DRI will most probably pick up and will release once they confirm its legal. The companies cannot evade duties and sell it with insurance ad warranty. If they have, the owners can do a legal case on the companies. At least I will of my R1 gets picked up!

All in all lets see if its just a rumour.

AFAIK, if DRI really wants they can confiscate the bike, while the owner scouts around with Yamaha / Suzuki to get the appropriate certificates of taxation !!

In fact an RTO official wanted to confiscate my Hyosung Aquila in Bangalore!! They are not even leaving small bikes !! Even after I showed all papers !! Only after I called his superiors in the RTO dept, that he let me go !!

Even I thought its a rumour and that its impossible that these bikes can't be illegal but, yesterday I met someone who knows the owner of one of those Busa's and he confirmed it.

Its so damn annoying!

I have the certificate of taxation, octroi and everything else; same set of documents that came along with my CBU car too. What other papers are there to prove the legality of a vehicle? Does this mean they can seize legally/officially sold CBU cars too?

My Yam even came with a couple of Govt. of India documents; one of them ordering all the RTOs in India to register the bike, the other is the homologation cert. I'm sure this is enough to convince anyone about the legality of the motorcycle.

Don't go by what the RTO says, most of the RTO folks in Mumbai at least don't know ANYTHING. They are ill informed, semi literate and frankly looking to harass anyone and everyone just because they can. Ultimately nothing comes out of their harassment but they've had their 2 minutes of fame and power.

Don't get me wrong and I don't mean to question your source but I request you to shed more light on this; without solid details it just sounds like hearsay and Chinese whispers.

The RTO has my details, the DRI can get it easily; same with my friend's Busa. No one has called us, come to us or stopped us. We ride at least once a week, sometimes even more.

Let me say it clearly and loudly so as to not scare the prospective customers. THERE ARE NO LEGAL PROBLEMS WITH IMPORTED BIKES OFFICIALLY SOLD BY THE MANUFACTURER.

^^^ We know there are absolutely no problems in the legal imports. But its just that DRI can take your bike for one or two weeks till you run around after Yamaha to get the certificate of duty paid !!

i believe thats what had happened with the legal imports and that what I had heard. Give me some time and I might find out what document do they need exactly.

Regarding my Aquila, the RTO guy was really bad tempered. He checked my bikes papers and since the bike was registered to Chennai then, told me that he'll have to keep the bike with him till he checks the papers with Chennai RTO !!

He was just getting adament and finally I had to call his superior !!

Sorry to hear but such idiots are there everywhere. I don't like to throw my weight around but when such officials act like morons one usually has to show them their place.

About the tax/duty papers, my point is there are no such papers needed to prove legality of a product sold in India. There's certainly no such paper coming along with cars and in all likelihood none with bikes too. You go out and buy a Sony Vaio laptop, it is imported but you don't get duty paid papers. Dell are the only importers who give the customer such papers IIRC.

On another note, one can argue with the DRI to get them to prove the bike is imported. I can claim my bike is locally made by Yamaha, and frankly it's not my concern if Yam import it or build it locally as long as I have the relevant documentation with me, which I do.

To be honest, IMO we're giving the DRI a bad name here. They are a totally clued in, intelligent and savy department who will not harass anyone and everyone, especially no someone who has done no wrong.

Rightly said dude.